Brad Mengel reviews THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

Brad Mengel, over at the Serial Vigilante Blog, has reviewed The Evil in Pemberley House.

Please check it out!

Green Man Review on THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

Robert M. Tilendis over at the Green Man Review has some very nice things to say about The Evil in Pemberley House.

"This one is fun--a good, tight story, enough psychology to keep it interesting, villains galore, characters with eccentricities that only the English can manage gracefully, a rich context, and lots of sex."

Check out the complete review here!

Washington Times review of PEMBERLEY HOUSE...

"When super heroes are conflicted"...

Ron Capshaw at the Washington Times has reviewed The Evil in Pemberley House. Choice quotes include: "It is safe to say that Patricia Clarke Wildman has sufficient baggage before she ever sets foot in the Pemberley House of Jane Austen fame" and "'Pemberley' is clearly a love letter rescued from the grave by co-writer Win Scott Eckert to Farmer's aged fans. It is replete with interrelated heroes and perverted sex scenes."

Check out the complete review here, won't you?

The Evil in Pemberley House - Limited edition

I have a strong feeling that the Limited Edition of Subterranean Press' The Evil in Pemberley House (which includes a Wold Newton Family tree in the endsheets and a chapbook packed with bonus materials) is very close to selling out.

If anyone out there hasn't gotten a copy, and intends to, now is probably a very good time.

I'm just sayin'.

New Blog review of PEMBERLEY HOUSE...

...over at Singular Points, and I certainly can't complain about Charles Rutledge's overview of the book. Check it out, won't you?

THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE - author copies have arrived...

... and wow!

Upon removing the dust jacket, I see that the regular trade HC is bound in blue cloth, while the limited HC is bound in purple cloth. Very nice. For those readers who purchase the regular trade HC, that version has no Wold Newton Family tree chart on the end sheets. I've made the chart available at The Evil in Pemberley House website. Just scroll down the right navigation bar to THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE - FAMILY TREE. Note that this version of the chart is Spoiler-Free; it does not give away any of the novel's mysteries.

The Limited Edition HC has this very same Spoiler-Free family tree chart in the book's end sheets. The Chapbook that comes with the Limited Edition has the Spoilers version of the family tree on the inside front and back covers. I will not be making that version of the family tree chart available electronically, at least not for some time--you'll need to buy the Limited Edition for that. :-) From what I can tell, copies of the Limited Edition are going very quickly.

All in all, I'm incredibly pleased, and feel very lucky. It's a beautiful package all around.

THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE - shipping complete & 1st look at Limited Edition Chapbook cover

According to Subterranean Press, all individual, retail, and wholesale orders for The Evil in Pemberley House have shipped.

I have yet to receive my author copies, but Mike Croteau of The Official Philip José Farmer Home Page got his copy today, and kindly has provided a scan of the Limited Edition Chapbook cover, featuring the Doc Wildman ("Doc Savage") Coat of Arms as designed and described by Philip José Farmer in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life (with a couple extra touches added from Phil's unpublished notes by yours truly) and lovingly rendered by Keith Howell.

Subterranean Press
Amazon.com

New interview online

Rias Nuninga, of the fantastic Philip José Farmer International Bibliography page, has kindly spent some time interviewing me about writing the novel The Evil in Pemberley House--which according to Subterranean Press will ship any day or week now...

Check out the interview here!

THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE about to ship

According to Subterranean Press, "The Evil in Pemberley House is completed and awaiting its turn in our shipping queue."

Getting excited!

Library Journal review of THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

The folks over at Subterranean Press have noted that Library Journal has reviewed The Evil in Pemberley House, saying "this dark erotic novel mixes the gothic-horror format with pieces of Sherlockian mysteries as well as homages to Tarzan of Greystoke and the Doc Savage series."

Yep!

Pemberley House--full Booklist review

In the many novels of the Wold Newton series, the late Farmer proved fond of enhancing the "biographies" of famous literary characters, such as Verne's Phileas Fogg and Burroughs' Tarzan, with fanciful, "uncovered" details. Here, collaborating with sf colleague and Wold Newton enthusiast Eckert, he recounts the fate of Patricia Wildman, daughter of pulp fiction icon Doc Savage. When her parents are presumed dead in a plane crash, 22-year-old Patricia assuages her grief in a spate of short-lived, unfulfilling love affairs. Then surprising news arrives: Patricia is the sole heir to Pemberley House, the estate featured in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, and she sets off immediately for England. Eager for the change of scenery, Patricia comes well prepared to meet her bawdy cousins and 103-year-old dowager aunt, still living at Pemberley, but is less prepared for the restless ghost still haunting the estate. Part pulp romance, part erotic thriller, Farmer and Eckert's yarn is a steamy, intriguing addition to Wold Newton lore.

- Carl Hays
(c) Booklist 2009

Booklist reviews THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

The good folks over at Subterranean Press have posted a blurb from Booklist's review of The Evil in Pemberley House.

"Part pulp romance, part erotic thriller, Farmer and Eckert’s yarn is a steamy, intriguing addition to Wold Newton lore."

Golly!

Hi-rez version of Glen Orbik's cover for THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE, without cover text

Copyright (C) 2009 Glen Orbik.

The Evil in Pemberley House is due to ship from Subterranean Press in 2-3 weeks.

PEMBERLEY HOUSE - Key historical scene reenacted & shipping update!

Subterranean Press has announced that The Evil in Pemberley House is at the printer and expected to ship in 2-3 weeks.

That seems a good excuse as any to post these pictures of a scene of critical historical significance to the events in Pemberley House, the murder of Charles Augustus Milverton. The murderess is a major character in Pemberley House. Pictures taken at the Sherlock Holmes Museum, 221B Baker Street, London, 25 July 2009.

50% Off Sale on Subterranean Press Forthcoming Titles, including THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

Go to this Subterranean Press page for more information!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The Evil in Pemberley House by Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert

The Evil is coming...

A darkly erotic Jane Austen-Pulp Fiction-Sherlockian-Gothic-Wold Newton mashup, in which the Man of

Bronze's daughter confronts her family's ancient

legacy, lays a ghost to rest, and meets her destiny!

The Wold Newton novel, The Evil in Pemberley House, by Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert, will be published in late September 2009 by Subterranean Press. Dust jacket by Glen Orbik.

Early reviews:

• John Allen Small
• Art Sippo
• Dennis E. Power

Pre-order:

• Direct from Subterranean Press, including the signed Limited Edition with Chapbook
• Amazon.com
• Barnes&Noble.com
• Tor.com
• Borders.com
• Tattered Cover
• Camelot Books (trade edition)
• Camelot Books (limited edition)

Trade -- Fully cloth bound hardcover edition:

• novel
• endsheets with a Pemberley House/Wold Newton Family tree

Limited Edition -- 200 numbered copies, signed by Win Scott Eckert, with bonus chapbook:

• cover art (the Doc Wildman [Doc Savage] Coat of Arms by Keith Howell)
• endsheets with an expanded Pemberley House/Wold Newton Family tree--including SPOILERS from the novel
• notes on the Wildman Coat of Arms by Philip José Farmer
• outline for the novel by Philip José Farmer
• timeline of key events in the novel by Win Scott Eckert
• Wold Newtonian essay by Win Scott Eckert

Trade: $40
ISBN: 978-1-59606-249-8

Limited: $60

Another Pemberley House review...

...which also provides a nice survey of Philip José Farmer's erotic fiction.

http://dennispower.blogspot.com/

and also mirrored:

http://elhead.livejournal.com/3951.html

http://blogs.myspace.com/elhead

Another early review is in...

... and it speaks for itself!

Pemberley House - book cover smackdown at SF Signal...

Pretty self-explanatory :-)

The Evil In Pemberley House: An Early Review

John Allen Small has posted an early review of The Evil in Pemberley House.

Check out John's MySpace page and then click on the blog link at the right side of the page. And please let him know you stopped by.

What would Darcy and Elizabeth think, indeed...?

Glen Orbik's amazing cover for THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

So, no sooner do I blog that the corrections are done, and all that remains is to eagerly anticipate the cover art by Glen Orbik, than the cover magically shows up today!

To say I'm pleased would be a gross understatement. To quote my good friend, Brad Mengel, I am so happy!

The cover is reminiscent of those magnificent '70s paperback Gothics...which in fact is exactly what The Evil in Pemberley House is--except for the paperback part. ;-)

The Evil in Pemberley House--corrections complete & with the publisher

Just an update note for those interested... all the files have been proofed, corrected and are with the publisher, Subterranean Press. These include:

Trade edition:

• the novel itself
• endsheets with a Pemberley House/Wold Newton Family tree
• still waiting on the cover art from Glen Orbik, although Subpress has approved the preliminary concept sketch

Limited Edition Chapbook

• cover art (the Wildman [Doc Savage] Coat of Arms by Keith Howell)
• endsheets with a Pemberley House/Wold Newton Family tree--including SPOILERS from the novel
• notes on the Wildman Coat of Arms by Philip José Farmer
• outline for the novel by Philip José Farmer
• timeline of key events in the novel by yours truly
• Wold Newtonian essay by yours truly

Amazon pre-order
Pre-order direct from Subterranean

New Interview at Comic Book Resources: Philip José Farmer, The Evil in Pemberley House, and Crossovers...

The fine folks at the Comics Should Be Good! blog over at Comic Book Resources have posted an interview with me. We talk about The Evil in Pemberley House, the Wold Newton Universe, Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World, and certainly not least, Philip José Farmer.

Check it out, won't you?

Hmm... what's this?

The Evil in Pemberley House - Now available for Pre-Order direct from Subterranean Press!

The Evil in Pemberley House now has its own page on the Subterranean Press website, with both the regular Trade and Limited Edition (with Chapbook) listed for Pre-Order.

The Chapbook includes Phil Farmer's original outline for the novel, the Wildman (Savage) Coat of Arms, an expanded Wold Newton Family tree chart, and other goodies.

The regular Trade also features a Wold Newton Family tree chart.

The regular Trade is listed for $40, while the Limited Edition with Chapbook is $60.

And... the cover is by the amazing Glen Orbik (who does Hard Case Crime covers as well as the covers to the forthcoming Gabriel Hunt pulp novels)! I can't wait to see what he comes up with.

The Evil in Pemberley House - ARCs are in!

The Advance Reader Copies for The Evil in Pemberley House are in. According to Subterranean Press, if you run a high traffic blog, or review for a prominent website, please feel free to drop them an email requesting a copy.

Subterranean Press artwork updates, including The Evil in Pemberley House

Subterranean Press has posted a brief artwork update, here.

I am busily reviewing proofs for The Evil in Pemberley House this weekend. I've seen the design for the limited edition chapbook, and can also say that both the trade and limited edition chapbooks will have endsheets which should knock the socks off Wold Newton fans. :-)

The Evil in Pemberley House - Amazon listing

The Evil in Pemberley House is now listed on Amazon.

Flap copy:
"For over thirty years, readers have marveled at Philip José Farmer's inventive integration of popular fiction and literature's most beloved characters, in a mythical web known as the Wold Newton Family. First described in the fictional biographies Tarzan Alive: The Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Farmer expanded his Wold Newton mythos in novels such as The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Time's Last Gift, Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, The Dark Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel, and Escape from Loki: Doc Savage's First Adventure.

The Evil in Pemberley House, an addition to the Wold Newton cycle, plays with the Gothic horror tradition. Patricia Wildman, the daughter of the world-renowned adventurer and crimefighter of the 1930s and '40s, Dr. James Clarke "Doc" Wildman, is all alone in the world when she inherits the family estate in Derbyshire, England, old, dark, and supposedly haunted.

But Farmer, characteristically, turns convention on its ear. Is the ghost real, or a clever sham? In Patricia Wildman, Farmer creates an introspective character who struggles to reconcile the supernatural with her rational scientific upbringing, while also attempting to work through unresolved feelings about her late parents. He sets the action at Pemberley from Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and ingrains the various mysteries in the Canon of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

The Evil in Pemberley House is a darkly erotic novel with broad appeal to readers of pulp and popular literature, particularly followers of Doc Savage, Sherlockians, and fans of Farmer's own celebrated Wold Newton Family."

Looks like Subterranean Press' projected release date for the Trade hardback edition is September 2009, with a list price of $35.

ISBN-10: 1596062495
ISBN-13: 978-1596062498

More info about cover art, the Limited edition with Chapbook, etc., as it becomes available.

Best,

-Win

Philip José Farmer - International Bibliography page

My thanks to Rias Nuninga over at the Philip José Farmer International Bibliography website for helping to spread the word!

Subterranean Press acquires a new Wold Newton novel

Subterranean Press announced today that they have acquired a new novel that is part of Philip José Farmer's Wold Newton mythos:

In addition, we’ve just bought a few other new titles:

– The Evil in Pemberley House (Philip José Farmer and Win Scott Eckert) — a darkly erotic novel that is part of Farmer’s Wold Newton canon. The limited edition will include a chapbook with a whole host of unpublished background material.

The promotional image is by the extraordinary Keith Howell....


I am still not processing this... my first novel, written with Phil Farmer. I have so many people to thank for helping me reach this point... I'd better get it right for the book's acknowledgments... :-)

I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight.

Excerpt of novel Evil in Pemberley House now available!

Farmerphile no. 14 is back from the printer and available for order. As a not-so-gentle reminder, this issue features a sample excerpt from the novel The Evil in Pemberley House (featuring Doc Savage's (Wildman's) daughter, Patricia Wildman, as well as a magnificent illustration of the Doc Wildman coat of arms, based on Phil Farmer's research and description.

Hope you'll check it out!

The Wold Newton gang in FARMERPHILE #14

Now that I've broken the news about the Doc Savage coat of arms in FARMERPHILE no. 14 , it really bears mentioning how many Wold-Newtoneers we have contributing to this issue, our longest issue yet!

Art Sippo makes his first contribution with "This Played in Peoria?"

Rick Lai is back with the very timely "The Doc Ravage Presidential Campaign."

Regular Dennis Power joins in with "Oh the Humanity."

Chris Carey , as always, puts his indelible stamp on the issue with all of his invaluable behind-the-scenes work.

And I've got a few Pemberley House things in there, including an interview about writing the book, a family tree, and a two-chapter excerpt.

Complete contents:

Issue No. 14 - October 2008
60 pages (5.5 x 8.5 inches)
$11 (includes shipping in the US and Canada)

Table of contents:

This Played in Peoria?
- by Art Sippo

A Whale of a Time
- by Leo Queequeg Tincrowdor

Tongues of the Moon
- by Philip José Farmer
--- illustrated by John Streleckis

The Voice of Farmer in My Vermiform Appendix
- by Rhys Hughes

Creative Mythography: Excessively Diverted, or, Coming to Pemberley House
- by Win Scott Eckert

Farmerphile Interviews Win Scott Eckert

Excerpt from The Evil in Pemberley House
- by Philip José Farmer & Win Scott Eckert
--- illustrated by Keith Howell

Say, What's the Big Idea?
- by Michael Carroll

The Doc Ravage Presidential Campaign
- by Rick Lai

Bibliophile
- by Paul Spiteri

Boris the Bear: Wold Newton and Philip José Farmer
- by Steve Mattsson

Oh the Humanity
- by Dennis E. Power

Unpolished Pearls from the Magic Filing Cabinet

Greartheart Silver
- by Philip José Farmer

Doc Wildman's Coat of Arms
- by Philip José Farmer
--- illustrated by Keith Howell

Cover art by Charles Berlin

We really hope you'll support our efforts and pick up this issue .

All the best,

Win

Doc Savage's Coat of Arms!

I'm very pleased to announce that, as I blogged about a short time ago, Doc Savage's (okay, Doc Wildman's :-) coat of arms will appear in issue 14 of Farmerphile! The illustration is based on Phil Farmer's description in Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, with a few additions based on unpublished notes from the Magic Filing Cabinet in Phil's basement. I (and my lovely wife) were very pleased research the rules of heraldry in order to provide instructions to fantastic artist Keith Howell in executing what Phil described in DS:HAL, as well as choosing the small additions from Phil's unpublished notes.

This is a big deal for Doc fans, so please spread the word (forward the link to this post!) and consider picking up the issue; Keith's illustration is truly extraordinary.

German SF/F site Fantastyguide on "New books by SF master Philip José Farmer!"

The German SF/F site Fantastyguide has picked up on the news, announced at Farmercon 90 in late July, about the new Philip José Farmer novels and stories.

Here is the imperfect but more than adequate Google translation. Nice to see the word is starting to spread on this. The Evil in Pemberley House will be excerpted in issue 14 of Farmerphile, coming out next month.

Panel pic of announcement of new Philip José Farmer novel

Ganked in part from my pal Chris Carey's blog:

"Oh, and I just stumbled across this photo on Rias Nuninga's wonderful PJF International Bibliography from the panel during which the new Farmer collaborations were announced at this summer's Farmercon.


From right to left: Win Scott Eckert (co-author, The Evil in Pemberley House), Paul Spiteri (co-author, "Getting Ready to Write"), Tracy Knight (co-author, Cougar by the Tail), and Christopher Paul Carey (co-author, The Song of Kwasin). Photo courtesy of Rias Nuninga."

Announcement: The Evil in Pemberley House - A new novel by Philip José Farmer & Win Scott Eckert

On Saturday, July 26, at FarmerCon 90, a convention in honor of Philip José Farmer's 90th birthday held at the Lakeview branch of the Peoria Public Library, a "Mystery Panel" was held in which it was revealed that Phil and Bette Farmer made the decision to have writers they trusted complete some of Phil's unfinished manuscripts.

Among these are:

• The Song of Kwasin, a continuation of the Khokarsa cycle, the first two books being Hadon of Ancient Opar and Flight to Opar - completed by collaborator Christopher Paul Carey (I've read it, and it's a wonderfully stirring conclusion to the saga, which fans of H. Rider Haggard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and, of course, Phil Farmer, are going to absolutely love; read Chris' own blog post here)
  
• A Western, Cougar By the Tail, with collaborator Tracy Knight (author of many short stories and two novels, Beneath a Whiskey Sky and The Astonished Eye
  
• "Getting Ready to Write," a very funny Polytropical Paramyth written with Paul Spiteri, and appearing in Farmerphile 13 (July 2008)
  
• The Evil in Pemberley House with collaborator Win Scott Eckert
  

I first discovered the short synopsis, longer outline, handwritten notes, and incomplete manuscript for The Evil in Pemberley House in the "Magic Filing Cabinet" in Phil Farmer's basement on a trip to Peoria with Mike Croteau, publisher of Farmerphile and webmaster of the Official Philip José Farmer Home Page, in July 2005. (During the same trip we also discovered the Kwasin manuscript and notes, much to Chris Carey's joy.) At Phil's bequest, I researched and prepared to finish the novel for two years (amidst other writing projects, in particular finalizing the manuscript for Crossovers: A Secret Chronology of the World, long-anticipated and coming in 2010 from MonkeyBrain Books) and wrote in earnest this past year.

During this time Chris Carey was also completing The Song of Kwasin and I can't thank him enough for the literally hundreds of emails and many phone calls, in which we bounced ideas around, exchanged feedback, and in general provided much needed support and encouragement.

It's an incredible honor and supreme thrill to have been selected to tell the story that Phil didn't complete, the "origin story" of Patricia Wildman, the "woman of bronze," the daughter of "Doc" Wildman, who was a renaissance man and battler of evil-doers from the Golden Age of the 1930s. (For fans who may have forgotten, Phil brought this bronze superman's real name and family background to the world-at-large in a "fictional biography" published in the early 1970s.)

With Phil and Bette Farmer's blessing, the manuscript is now in the hands of Phil's agent.

For more information, I've launched a website for The Evil in Pemberley House. Please bookmark it and check back often for news, a forthcoming book trailer, etc. I'm thrilled beyond belief to be involved in this project, and to finally launch it in earnest to the blogosphere. An excerpt from the novel will appear in Farmerphile 14 (October 2008).

In the meantime, content yourself with the gorgeous spot illustration of Patricia Wildman, woman of bronze (lovingly rendered by the amazing Keith Howell) and read below the summary which appeared in the convention booklet handed out today at FarmerCon 90.

THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE

For over thirty years, readers have marveled at Philip José Farmer's clever integration of some of popular fiction and literature's most beloved characters, in a mythical web known as the Wold Newton Family. First described in the fictional biographies Tarzan Alive and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life, Farmer expanded the mythos in The Other Log of Phileas Fogg, the Tarzan-Sherlock Holmes pastiche The Adventure of the Peerless Peer, Time's Last Gift, Hadon of Ancient Opar, Flight to Opar, and the authorized series novels The Dark Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel and Escape from Loki: Doc Savage's First Adventure.

Now, from imagination of Philip José Farmer and Wold Newton expert Win Scott Eckert, comes an addition to the Wold Newton cycle, a Gothic tale of adventure which builds upon the Canon of Sherlock Holmes mysteries and explores the psyche of a pulp superman's offspring…

It's 1973, and Patricia Wildman is traveling from New York to Derbyshire in England to claim her legacy, the grand estate known as Pemberley House. The descendant of famous and infamous dukes and duchesses, and of Pemberley's memorable Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet from Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice, Patricia is also the daughter of the world-renowned crimefighter of the 1930s and '40s, Dr. James Clarke "Doc" Wildman. She is also the inheritor of her father's bronzed skin, gold-flecked eyes, and his physical and intellectual perfection, as well as her mother's cunning and compassion.

Patricia is looking to put her past behind her and start a new life at Pemberley. Instead, she's almost immediately attacked by poachers and has to contend with the resentful inhabitants of Pemberley who would prefer the venerable estate pass to them. Foremost among those seeking to prevent Patricia from accepting her legacy and becoming the new Baroness of Lambton are the imperious 103-year-old dowager duchess of Pemberley, her adopted grandchildren, and her personal physician, Dr. Augustus Moran.

Patricia, however, is not only faced with the devious machinations of British nobility and greedy hangers-on, but must also contend with being haunted by her direct ancestor, the 16th century Baroness, Bess of Pemberley. Or is the "Pemberley Curse" really the product of the conniving residents of Pemberley House?

As Patricia struggles to reconcile the supernatural evidence in front of her with her rational scientific upbringing, she also attempts to work through unresolved feelings about her late parents. It's not easy being the daughter of a superman, after all…

The Evil in Pemberley House is an adventure, Gothic horror, and genealogical mystery set against the backdrop of Jane Austen's Derbyshire, which will excite a broad array of readers of both pulp and popular literature, especially fans of the Doc Savage pulp novels, the Sherlock Holmes mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Farmer's own celebrated Wold Newton Family mythos.

Reading Pemberley....

Pics of Mike Croteau, intrepid webmaster of the Official Philip José Farmer Home Page, reading an advance manuscript of The Evil in Pemberley House while vacationing in Florida.

He liked it, which of course pleases me no end...

About "Abbey Tarnhelm"

Readers looking at the older posts on this blog will see some by "Abbey Tarnhelm." The original ms. for Pemberley House lists "Tarnhelm" as the author. This is Phil playing the trickster again.

Ultimately, though, as the book is published under Phil's and my byline, I've dispensed with the Tarnhelm persona for this blog.

Ave atque vale, Abbey, we hardly knew ye.

Good news today

The Evil in Pemberley House took another positive step forward today.And that's really all I can say about it. ;-)

Things have moved a bit

The manuscript is now in the agent's hands.

A status update on Pemberley House

Finished the first draft of the novel on March 25, 2008. 25 chapters and an epilogue.

Then a month to polish and undergo a top-notch review and critique by a top-notch professional.

So it's ready as it's going to be, at this point. Here's hoping things start to move more quickly on other fronts soon.

Pemberley House chapters 1-18

Hi Everyone,

Long time, no post.

I prepared and proofed chapters 1-18 in preparation for a quick trip to Peoria a month ago. Somebody was having a 90th birthday or something. ;-)

Since then, life has gotten in the way and I've gotten no writing done. I did get a couple gratifying comments during the Peoria quick-trip, to the effect that readers were enjoying it and ready for more. One person said they had read through chapter 9 and couldn't wait to find out what happened next. Thank you. :-) Of course, it is a PJF story.

So now the ms. is ready through chapter 18. Again, I'm not looking for detailed comments right now; I'll be interested in that once the full first draft of the whole novel is complete. Detailed comments right now would just derail me. Of course, if you read chaps. 1-18 and you see something absolutely egregious, I want to know. ;-)

So anyone who wants the 18 chapters, LMK with a reply to this post, and I'll send them out.

Thanks for your support.

It's been over a month...

... since I last posted on Pemberley House progress. I made little headway during my time off at the holidays, due to a multitude of other things that cropped up, which was disappointing.

Today I came to a point in the manuscript where some things came together and it made sense to incorporate a prequel story, "The Shades of Pemberley," into the overall novel. "Shades" will be a tale which a character in the novel will read, in chunks, as the action progresses. I hope this will end up working out. Not absolutely sure if it will until I get to the end.

In the meantime, though, it added 6,750 words to the manuscript. Hurray!

Add that to the 4,000 new words I generated today, and the manuscript is up to about 41,500 words.

For a final word count, I'd be happier with 75-80,000 words, but I'll take a minimum of 60,000.

If I have 5 more 4,000 word Sundays like I had today, I could be done in 5 weeks.

Yeah.

And "done" would mean done with the first draft. There would still be the review, subsequent drafts, copyediting, etc.

Still... I am going to try my damnedest to maintain this pace and momentum.

Wish me luck.

Back at it...

Well, it's been two months since the last update. Spent the first month with writer's block and fumbling around, trying to get through a section of the outline that didn't appear to be terribly exciting.

Spent the second month cranking out the Avenger story (currently awaiting the third round of comments/edits from the publisher).

Got back to Pemberley House and wrote almost 3,000 words yesterday. Hoping for another 1,000 tonight, but I'm not going to kill myself doing it.

PEMBERLEY HOUSE - 9/25/07

I heard from the Powers That Be today regarding the manuscript, and they are Pleased.

For my part, I am Relieved and Thrilled. Mostly Relieved.

Farmer Immersion: A PEMBERLEY HOUSE reading list

These are the books I've read in preparation for writing The Evil in Pemberley House--or in many cases, reread. Some of them I am reading simultaneously in order to help maintain the mood.

By Philip José Farmer

• Tarzan Alive (of course)--I've lost track of how many times I've read this. 5 or 6?
• Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life--ditto.
• A Barnstormer in Oz (2)
• The Dark Heart of Time: A Tarzan Novel (2)
• Escape from Loki: Doc Savage's First Adventure (3)
• Love Song (1)--highly recommended if you've never read it.
• The Other Log of Phileas Fogg (4)
• Time's Last Gift (4)
• Image of the Beast (2)
• Blown (2)
• Traitor to the Living (1)
• The Adventure of the Peerless Peer (4 or 5?)

And the others....

• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (1)
• The Man of Bronze by Lester Dent (3 or 4?)
• The Golden Peril by Harold Davis & Lester Dent (1)
• The Golden Man by Lester Dent (1)
• They Died Twice by Lester Dent (1)
• "The Adventure of the Priory School" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3 or 4)
• "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (2)
• Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs (2)
• The Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs (2)

Pemberley feedback

I had an interesting exchange with one of the folks here, which I'll reproduce in part:

Blog member:
"All I can tell you about is whether I can follow the story and if it makes sense. Or if I hit a sentence that I have to read two or three times before I understand it.

Anyway, if you don't think having all this input will just drive you to distraction, then I'd be happy to read the chapters as you go along. I will be reading it on a different level than most of the others. While they will get most of the WN references, and enjoy the book because of them, I will not get most of them and therefore will almost be reading it like someone not familiar with the WNU. It will be interesting to see how the book is when you don't know all the really cool background information.

Does that make any sense? So does Pemberley work if someone only recognizes a few of the WN references and therefore doesn't know all the background of the story."

And my response:
"I think it would be great if you read it from the perspective of, does it tell a good story and does it work if someone is not immediately familiar with all the WN references? Also, I am trying not to overwhelm the reader with too many references, and am trying to slip the background mythology in as part of the natural storytelling.

I think you could also tell me if you think I deviate from Phil's style too much anywhere. It would be interesting to see if you can discern where I start writing. I am not actively and consciously trying to emulate Phil's style, but am hoping to capture or get close to it via osmosis.

I am comfortable enough with the state of the latest chapters to send them Phil and Bette; if I get input from you that calls for changes, I can still make them down the road."

So there you have it. I have two takers for chapters 1-9, so I will send them out today.

Thanks.

Pemberley House Chapters 1-9

Chapters 1-9 are now in good, 2nd draft shape. I find it easier to write a several chapter chunk, then set it aside for a few days, come back to it and proof/edit, and then move on to the next chunk.

Or perhaps that's just an artifact of needing to send sets of chapters to certain reviewers in Peoria in digestible amounts.

Either way, it works.

I haven't heard from anyone regarding whether they are interested in previews as the novel is written, or whether folks prefer to wait for the final.

As I said in a previous post, my feelings won't be hurt if no one wants to see in-progress previews. But I would like to know one way or another, so that I can either continue to offer the previews or dispense with them.

Thanks.

Pemberley House Status Report

After a series of fits and starts over the two years since Mike and I discovered the partial manuscript, mostly complete outline, and associated notes in PJF's basement, I am finally writing in earnest.

First came the OCR conversion of the chapters that PJF wrote, and cleanup of the text. Them came a comparison of the information in the chapters, the outline, and the notes. All of this was also compared to the WNF as PJF finally had it in TA and DS:HAL. I made decisions in order to ensure that continuity and the WNF genealogies were not violated. I also had to clarify how the Curse worked, how it was passed from family member to family member, and quadruple check the genealogy to make sure our heroine was actually subject to the Curse! (Believe me, the background work on all this was a lot more complex than this short paragraph makes it sound.)

Then there was the question of the eroticism in the novel. I prefer not to change any of PJF's original words in the ms., wherever I can avoid it. So that's how I'm writing it, at least for now. I may get different direction later and then I'll have to go back and revise the ms. from R-rated to PG-13. We'll see, but for now, this is the course I've decided upon.

After being sidetracked for almost a year to do the Crossovers book, I returned to PH in late summer this year and finished the outline at the beginning of August, the night before leaving for Archon 31/FarmerCon II, in fact. The outline was about 3/4 complete. The last 1/4 was more notes and ideas than a true outline, but there was certainly enough there that I can confidently say that I did not make up any of the major plot directions or resolutions.

Next, I finished the first incomplete chapter . It was quite difficult getting started on this, since the ms. ends mid-chapter, mid-sentence. I wonder how PJF would have finished that sentence?

I've now added 5 additional chapters, and last night passed a mental hurdle. The word count has now more than doubled from Phil's original ms.

Okay, with all the posts tonight, my intent was to cover the state of the project past-to-present. Going forward, I will post occasional progress updates and samples, if anyone wants them, but there will not be a flood of posts as there was tonight.

Thanks for being here.

Pemberley House Family Tree

Lest everyone think that my interest in The Evil in Pemberley House (PH) is centered solely on hot women (although it does come from PJF's erotic novel era, after all), let me reassure you that I have done real research and scholarship in preparation. Here is a family tree graphic (click on it for a larger, readable version) which reconciles the information in PH with the family trees in Tarzan Alive (TA) and Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life. Yes, there were a few contradictions, which required some decisions to make everything synch up. The chapters and outline appear to have been written before PJF solidified his final WNF genealogy in TA. Also, this chart helps me keep track of the descent of the Pemberley House estate, as well as the descent of the "Pemberley Curse," both of which are central plot points in the novel.

* Rick, I am aware that this chart does not reflect your theory from "The Secret History of Captain Nemo" which has Prof. Moriarty father as Dr. James Noel rather than Sir. William Clayton. I accept your revision of the family tree, but for purposes of this chart, some version of which I intend to be in the PH book, I have left the tree as PJF originally had it. The purpose of this is to not confuse readers who may have only DS:HAL and have not read your essay online or in MYTHS.